Rotary dock

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to the berthing of boats, and to the problem caused by the need for providing maneuvering room to permit the boats to enter their boat slips. This problem is particularly acute for larger boats and for the less experienced skippers. The disclosed invention teaches the use of a rotary dock, somewhat similar to a merry-go-round, having a plurality of boat slips associated therewith. In use, the rotary dock is rotated so that any given one of the plurality of boat slips may be positioned at any desired peripheral location. Thus, in the case of a mooring arrangement in a marina, any boat slip of the rotary dock may therefore be positioned at a peripheral location that facilitates the boat&#39;&#39;s entering or leaving the channel, whereas, in the case of a marine service station that is already crowded with boats being serviced, the rotary dock may be rotated so that an emoty boat slip in in location to receive the newly arrived boat. In the case of a boat rental or a boat sales agency having a large inventory of boats, the rotary dock may be rotated so that any desired boat of the inventory may be made available for customer examination or use.

United States Patent Trautwein [54] ROTARY DOCK Paul A. Trautwein, 1906Holiday Road, Newport Beach, Calif. 92660 [22] Filed: Nov. 23, 1970 [21]Appl.No.: 91,921

[72] Inventor:

[52] 0.8. CI ..6l/46, ll4/0.S

51 im. Cl ..E02d 29/06 [58] Field 01' Search 0 61/48, 46; 114/.5 D, .5BD; 52/65 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,786,598 10/1956Harris ..61/48 X 2,964,144 12/1960 Wheeler ..52/65 PrimaryExaminer-Kenneth Downey Attorney-Nienow & Frater [5 7] ABSTRACT Thisdisclosure relates to the berthing of boats, and to the problem causedby the need for providing maneuvering room to permit the boats to entertheir boat slips. This problem is particularly acute for larger boatsand for the less experienced skippers.

The disclosed invention teaches the use of a rotary dock, somewhatsimilar to a merry-go-round, having a plurality of boat slips associatedtherewith. In use, the rotary dock is rotated so that any given one ofthe plurality of boat slips may be positioned at any desired peripherallocation.

Thus, in the case of a mooring arrangement in a marina, any boat slip ofthe rotary dock may therefore be positioned at a peripheral locationthat facilitates the boat's entering or leaving the channel, whereas, inthe case of a marine service station that is already crowded with boatsbeing serviced, the rotary dock may be rotated so that an emoty boatslip in in location to receive the newly arrived boat. In the case of aboat rental or a boat sales agency having a large inventory of boats,the rotary dock may be rotated so that any desired boat of the inventorymay be made available for customer examination or USB.

7 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJum 1912 3, 672. 1 78 sum 10F 5 I2QFH 2 l2 PRIOR ART I2 PRIOR ART 115-11 INVEN TOR PAUL A. TRAUTWEIN imw##JI ATTOR NEYS P'A'TEn'TEnJum 1912 SHEET 2 [IF 3 HEW INVENTOR PAUL A.TRAUTWEIN ATTORNEYS Pmmmwm m2 3.672.178

PAUL A. TRAUTWEIN ATTO RNEYS ROTARY DOCK BACKGROUND The ever-increasingpopularity of pleasure boats has introduced the associated and everincreasing problems of boat mooring, boat sales, boat display, boatservicing, boat renting, boat storing, boat maintenance, etc. These arecaused, in part, by the fact that the many boats must be moored in sucha way that each and every one of them is always available for thevarious functions mentioned above; plus that all important function ofalways being available to the boat owner for instant use and for instantmooring when he has finished his day of boating.

One present day, admittedly not completely satisfactory, arrangement isto fasten the boat to a floating mooring buoy; and to row between themoored boat and the shore as necessary. This procedure, unfortunately,introduces the problem of provisioning the boat, etc. Another, moreprevalent solution, is the use of a marina that is laid out in such amanner that it can accomodate a large plurality of boats. As will beobvious, marinas tend to be very expensive to operate; and there is aconstant search for procedures that will make them more efficient.Unfortunately, greatly improved efficiency has not been heretoforerealized; the result rather being that marina costs have risen and thatmooring rates have skyrocketedwith dissatisfaction on the parts of boththe boat owners and the marina operators.

OBJECTS AND DRAWINGS It is therefore a principal object of the presentinvention to provide an improved marina.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a moreefficient marina.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide moreefficient use of the available marina space.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel typeof dock for a marina.

It is astill further object of the present invention to provide a rotarydock for use in mooring boats.

The attainment of these objects, and others, will be realized from astudy of the following description, taken in conjunction with thedrawings, of which:

FIGS. la and 1b show prior art mooring arrangements presently used inmarinas;

FIG. 2 shows the basic concept of the disclosed rotary dock;

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the novel rotary dock;

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the rotary dock;

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment of the rotary dock;

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of one rotary dock pivoting means;

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of another rotary dock arrangement;

FIG. 8 shows a novel mooring arrangement using the disclosed rotarydock; and

FIG. 9 shows still another novel mooring arrangement.

SYNOPSIS Broadly stated, the present invention discloses a rotary dockthat rotates around a given pivot point; the rotary dock having aplurality of boat slips. In one embodiment, the rotary dock resembles amerry-go-round, and has a plurality of individual boat slips arrangedradially. In another embodiment, the rotary dock comprises a spine, andhas a plurality of individual boat slips arranged transversely to thespine. In still another embodiment, the spine does not containindividual boat slips, but rather permits side-by-side mooring of alarge plurality of boats.

INTRODUCTION As was pointed out above, it is particularly important inlaying out a marina to be sure that each and every boat owner has easyaccess to his boat; and that, in turn, each and every boat has easyaccess to the channelfor both leaving the boat slip for a cruise, andfor returning to the boat slip after the cruise. The latter isespecially important, because at that time the crew is tired, hungry,and in a hurry; so that their docking seamanship may not be up topar-and this may result in damage to their boat, to adjacent boats, andperhaps even to the docking pier. Thus, the layout of the marina is veryimportant, and from the boat owners point of view, and it should leavehim a lot of maneuvering room for entering and leaving his boat slip.

On the other hand, the marina operator requires an adequate financialincome from the rental of space at the marina-in order to maintain thefacility, and to show a profit. To him, therefore, the above mentionedmaneuvering room is just so much non-income producing dead water; and,to the marine operator, the marina layout must be such that the deadwater is kept at a minimum. Therefore, the marina designer is tornbetween conflicting desires, so he has to compromise in his design.

One such compromise marina design is shown in FIG. la, which shows aportion of a docking arrangement. Here a walkway 10 has a plurality offinger piers 11 jutting therefrom; each pier I], in turn, having aplurality of spaced apart docks 12 that fonn boat slips 13 whereinindividual boats may be moored. Boat slips 13 having a clock 12 on atleast one side thereof provide improved facilities for working on aboat; and will be designated as individual" boat slips for reasons thatwill become apparent later.

FIG. la indicates a boat 14 that has left its boat slip and is preparingto enter boat channel 15. It will be realized from FIG. Ia that, asmentioned above, a good deal of maneuvering is necessary for boat 14 toaccomplish this result in view of wind, current, tidal effects, etc.;and that if its skipper is not well-qualified, he can do extensivedamage to his own boat, to other boats, and even to the pierarrangement.

It is in an effort to minimize the danger of such damage that a largeamount of maneuvering room must be left between, and adjacent to,neighboring piers.

FIG. lb shows another prior art pier arrangement, and it will be notedthat inthis arrangement the larger-sized boats are berthed closer to thechannel 15, and that the smaller more maneuverable boats are moored atthe inner portion of the docking arrangement. Even so, an appreciableamount of maneuvering room must be provided for permitting the innerboats to maneuver into and out of their boat slips.

Thus, in summary of prior art pier arrangements, it will be realizedthat they inherently include a relatively large non-income producingamount of dead water.

DESCRIPTION The basic concept present invention will be understood fromFIG. 2. Here it will be seen that the novel disclosed dockingarrangement comprises a rotary dock having a central core 17 adapted torotate around a pivot pointsuch as a king pile 18. The exemplified kingpile 18 may be formed in the usual manner of providing a dock pile(i.e., by pile driving, jetting, etc.)

The rotary dock 16a of FIG. 2 shows a plurality of docks 12 extendingradially from central core 17; these docks 12 forming a plurality ofindividual boat slips 13, and providing access between the rotary dockand walkway 10. While eight such radial boat slips 13 are illustrated,boat slips of any convenient number and size may be provided. Docks 12may, of course, be either integral with central core 17, or affixedthereto.

The overall rotary dock 16a may be formed in the usual manner ofbuilding floating docks; i.e., by the use of pontoon supportedframeworks, etc. The rotation equipment may take any convenient form,using any of the commercially available apparatus; i.e., bull gears,cables, belts, electric motors, gasoline or diesel engines, splines orslides to adjust to different floating levels, etc.

The operation of the rotary dock 16a is as follows. Assume that a boatowner wants to take his boat out for a cruise; and after making thenecessary preparations, finds that the boat slip containing his boathappens to be remote from the boat channel 15. He thereupon activatesthe dock rotating mechanism, discussed above. This mechanism causes theentire rotary dock 16a and its associated boats to rotate around itspivot point; and when the boat owner finds that his boat is positionedat a peripheral location adjacent the channel, he de-activates the dockrotating mechanism. A brake may be desirable to stop the rotation of therotary dock; but in general, the dock rotating mechanism, gearing,engines, etc., inherently are such that when the mechanism isde-activated, it acts as a brake against any further rotary motion. Thusthe boat owner may now back quickly and easily out into the channel.Thus, the formerly necessary maneuvering and danger therefrom areobviated; and the boat is quickly on its way.

It will be noted that as the rotary dock 16a rotates, it drags all ofthe moored boats around with it; but this does not cause any problem, asall of them are floating gently in their individual boat slips, and therotation rate is reasonably slow. It should be realized that even ifother boat owners are working on their boats, or are preparing them fora cruise, the slow rotation of the rotary clock will not inconveniencethem or their boats in any way, and they can continue with theirpreparations, until they are ready to leave. At that time, they, intheir turn, activate the dock rotating mechanism, as described above,until their boat is at the channel slip location; and they can readilyand easily back into the channel, and start their cruise. I

Thus, by the latter part of the day, several of the boat slips may beempty. When one of the cruising boats returns to the rotary dock aftercompleting its cruise, at least one of the boat slips 13 will, ofnecessity, have to be empty; and in all probability, the empty boat slipwill be facing the channel 15, having been left in that location whenthe latest boat left the rotary dock.

Since all of the boat slips are alike, there is no need to assign themto specific boats or to specific boat owners. Moreover, as indicated inFIG. 2, a plurality of service facilities 19 (work lockers, electricalpower outlets, other boat maintenance apparatus, firefighting equipment,etc.) is positioned on the central core 17 of the rotary dock 16a, sothat this equipment is readily available to every boat, regardless ofwhich boat slip it happens to occupy. Furthermore, the servicefacilities 19 located on the central core 17 include individual storagelockers, so that each boat owner has all of his personal equipmentreadily accessible to him, regardless of which boat slip his boathappens to occupy at any given time. Thus, the newly arrived boat merelynoses into any empty and available boat slipin this way obviating theprior maneuvering.

It will eventually happen that when a given boat arrives, the skipperwill find that the channel positioned boat slips are all filled, havingbeen taken by earlier arrivals; so that it becomes necessary for therotary dock 16a to be rotated in order to bring an empty boat slip intothe channel position. The dock rotating mechanism may be activated in anumber of ways; for example, by remote radio control, by a switchpositioned near the channel, by a shore located or dock located switch,by an attendant, etc. In any event, the rotary dock 16a is rotated untilan empty boat slip is in the channel position; whereupon the latestarriving boat may nose into this boat slip.

It will, of course, be realized that the rotary clock 16a has agenerally circular configuration, so that ordinarily there is some deadwater at each comer of the circumscribing square; but it can be shownthat the rotary dock concept is much more efficient than prior artmarina designs and, moreover, provides tremendous advantages for therelatively larger less maneuverable boats whose owners are only too gladto pay a rental premium for the convenience of individual boat slipsthat have easy access to the boat channel, and provide freedom fromdamage.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment, 16b, of the rotary dock; thisembodiment being similar to that previously discussedin that it uses thedisclosed rotary concept, central core 17, and pivot means 18. However,embodiment 16b comprises a longitudinal spine 21 that may be integralwith, or affixed to, the central core 17. A plurality of individual boatslips 13 are positioned adjacent to spine 21; the outer boat slipsaccomodating somewhat smaller boats. In this embodiment, the boat slips13 are shown to be transverse to spine 21 rather than being radial as inthe previous embodiment. In the arrangement of FIG. 3, half of the boatslips simultaneously have ready access to channel 15; and, if desired,the rotary dock 16b may therefore operate satisfactorily with only twostopping positions.

Attention is now directed to H6. 4, which shows another embodiment 16cof the rotary dock. Here, rotary dock is illustrated as having aplurality of radially extending docks 12 that produce a number ofradially positioned boat slips 13; but the boat slips are of differentsizes for accomodating various sized boats. Rotary dock 16c also has acentral core 17 upon which service facilities may be mounted in themanner previously discussed, or in a manner to be discussed later. Inuse, rotary dock 16c is rotated as discussed above until a selected oneof the boat slips 13 is in the channel position.

It will be seen that the rotary dock 16c is designed to provide theowners of somewhat smaller boats with the ad vantages previouslyproduced for the larger boat.

Another rotary dock embodiment-16d of FIG. 5takes the form of a singlespine 21 attached to, or integral with, central core 17; this embodimentalso having a pivot point 18. R0- tary dock 16d has a plurality ofsmaller boats nose-moored to spine 21 in a mass-type side-by-siderelation. This arrangement permits more boats to be mooredwhile stillretaining the advantages of the rotary dock; the boat owners sacrificingthe individual boat slips-but obtaining easier access to the channel,with reduced danger of damage.

FIG. 6 shows, in schematic side view form, one arrangement for mountingthe rotary dock on the pivot means. As indicated, rotary dock 16 isshown to have its central core 17 pierced by a king pile 18 whose upperend is mounted in a restraining device (not shown) such as a tube or abearing that permits free floatation and free rotation. If desired, atower 25 may be used to enclose the pivot means; tower 25 also beingavailable to enclose the rotation mechanism previously discussed.Service facilities 19 may, if desired, be incorporated into tower 25;and illuminating means 26 may be advantageously mounted atop the tower.

As is well-known to those in the art, in some harbor areas there is atight water condition; and in situations such as this there is generallya large demand for the boat slips. in such cases, the rotary dockmodification shown in the schematic side view of FIG. 7 may be used.This shows a rotary dock structure that is moored, rather than beingrotatable; the illustrated rotary dock structure 16 having a centralcore 17, but the pivot means comprises a king pile 18a that does notextend above the water surface. Rather, a cable 28 is fastened to thetop of the pile 18a, and the cable 28 is run over a pulley 29 that ispreferably positioned at the center of the rotary dock structure 16. Acounterweight 30 is afiixed to the free end of the cable. In this way,the rotary dock structure is securely moored at a desired location,still floats freely on the water surface as the water level changes.Thus, the top of the king pile 18a is deep enough in the water so thatit does not hinder boat operations; and the floating dock structureprovides a plurality of boat slips, work facilities, etc.

Referring back to FIGS. 10 and 1b, it will be realized that themaneuvering room is needed primarily by the boats that are moored in theinner portions or in the far corners of the pier arrangements; the boatsin the boat slips near the channel requiring somewhat less maneuveringroom. In cases such as these, it is sometimes advantageous to combinethe prior art finger piers with their high income close packing ofboats, and an embodiment of the more efficient rotary dock Asillustrated in FIG. 8, the finger docks 12 are used at the front of thedocking arrangement; and a rotary dock of any desired configuration,such as 16d is used at the back of the docking arrangement.

Under some local marina configurations, there may be to be readilyavailable for rental or demonstration.

SUMMARY The disclosed rotary dock has many advantages over priorprevailing conditions-current, wind, tidal eflects, etc.that 5 andocking arrangements First of a, it provides each boat make it difiicultfor some boats to use certain moorings; and FIG. 9 shows a way ofovercoming this situation by use of the disclosed rotary dock. Here arotary dock 16 is positioned at the outer end of a finger pier 11. Inthis way, those boats having difficulty because of the local conditionsmay be berthed at the rotary dock, while the other boats may be mooredat the finger piers.

The novel disclosed rotary dock is particularly adaptable to a marineservice station; and this will be understood from the followingdiscussion. The usual marine service station generally has a rectangularconfiguration, with straight-sided docks for servicing and fueling theboats; and since it is usually positioned along an edge of thechannelout of the way of prevailing boat traffic-it thus usually hasonly one side thereof available for service functions. it so happensthat many of the boat servicing procedures are quite lengthy, forexample, some of the boats require about 100 to 1000 gallons of fuel.Therefore, the few available servicing positions of the marine servicestation are often tied up for appreciable periods of time. This, ofcourse, results in a concentration of moored boats about the most usedservice facilities.

Thus, when a newly arrived boat nears the service station, there isfrequently no room for it to be moored adjacent the desired servicefacility; and it either has to await its turn by floating around in midchannel, or has to return later. Therefore, there tends to be a constantre-shuffling of boats in order to service them; this re-shuffling beinginefiicient and tedious.

The disclosed rotary dock solves the above problem as follows. Themarine service station may now be built as a rotary dock, or with arotary dock as a portion of its structure. Now as a boat arrives forservice, the rotary dock is tumedas described above-so that the newlyarrived boat can be moored at an available boat slip of the rotary dock.In this way, any number of boats may be serviced simultaneously; or, ifnecessary, held at their moored location without interfering withchannel traffic or the servicing of other boats.

The disclosed rotary dock is also a boon for an agency that rents outboats, and for an agency that sells boats-as both of these agencies musthave a large inventory of boats readily available for demonstration oruse; the inventory comprising boats that vary in size, power,furnishings, color, etc. The prior art docking arrangement made itdifficult to reach boats in the far corners of the docking area; andfrequently resulted in an unsatisfactory demonstration or rental, andoften resulted in a lost sale.

The disclosed rotary dock permits the maintaining of a large inventoryof boats, while permitting any boat of the inventory with easy access tothe channel. Second, it accomodates the larger boats that are difficultto berth. Third, it permits boats to come straight in to the dock fromthe main channel, rather than having to maneuver their way their waythrough secondary channels. Fourth, it minimizes damage from otherboats. Fifth, it provides definite advantages for agencies involved inboat rentals, boat sales, and boat servicing. Sixth, the disclosedrotary dock may be built of standard materials, using standardtechniques, in any shape or form. And finally, the disclosed rotary dockincreases marina income by about 40 to 60 percent; and provides the boatowners with new, convenient facilities.

lclaim:

1. A rotary boat dock comprising in combination, a dock member rotatablymounted above thesurface of a relatively large body of water, aplurality of individual boat slips formed in said dock radially of theaxis of rotation, and a central dock portion in said dock member commonto all slips at the axis of rotation, said dock thereby forminginterconnecting walkways above the water surface on opposite sides ofsaid slips'and at said axis of rotation.

2. A rotary boat dock according to claim 1 wherein said walkways arecontiguously arranged to permit walking from one walkway to another.

3. A rotary boat dock according to claim 2 wherein said rotary clock hasa central core and a plurality of service facilities are locatedtherein.

4. A rotary boat dock according to claim 3 wherein rotating means isprovided for said dock member, said means comprising a king pileattached to said central dock portion and having a housing above thelatter for storing said service facilities.

5. A rotary boat dock according to claim 4 wherein illuminating means ispositioned on said housing for illuminating all of said slips at saiddock member.

6. A rotary boat dock comprising in combination, a dock member rotatablymounted above the surface of a relatively large body of water, aplurality of individual large boat slips formed in said dock radially ofthe axis of rotation, a plurality of individual smaller boat slips oneeach between a pair of adjacent large boat slips, and a central dockportion common to all large boat slips at the axis of rotation, saiddock thereby forming interconnecting walkways above the water surface onopposite sides of said slips and at said axis of rotation.

7. A rotary boat dock according to claim 6 wherein said walkways arecontiguously arranged to permit walking from one slip to another.

* i i i

1. A rotary boat dock comprising in combination, a dock member rotatablymounted above the surface of a relatively large body of water, aplurality of individual boat slips formed in said dock radially of theaxis of rotation, and a central dock portion in said dock member commonto all slips at the axis of rotation, said dock thereby forminginterconnecting walkways above the water surface on opposite sides ofsaid slips and at said axis of rotation.
 2. A rotary boat dock accordingto claim 1 wherein said walkways are contiguously arranged to permitwalking from one walkway to another.
 3. A rotary boat dock according toclaim 2 wherein said rotary dock has a central core and a plurality ofservice facilities are located therein.
 4. A rotary boat dock accordingto claim 3 wherein rotating means is provided for said dock member, saidmeans comprising a king pile attached to said central dock portion andhaving a housing above the latter for storing said service facilities.5. A rotary boat dock according to claim 4 wherein illuminating means ispositioned on said housing for illuminating all of said slips at saiddock member.
 6. A rotary boat dock comprising in combination, a dockmember rotatably mounted above the surface of a relatively large body ofwater, a plurality of individual large boat slips formed in said dockradially of the axis of rotation, a plurality of individual smaller boatslips one each between a pair of adjacent large boat slips, and acentral dock portion common to all large boat slips at the axis ofrotation, said dock thereby forming interconnecting walkways above thewater surface on opposite sides of said slips and at said axis ofrotation.
 7. A rotary boat dock according to claim 6 wherein saidwalkways are contiguously arranged to permit walking from one slip toanother.